


Eyes Like the Stars

by wouldratherbeaunicorn



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: "Studying", Discussion of Abortion, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Squad, Teen Pregnancy, cursing, emo zoe, heidi's number one, jared the nap kween, kleinphy is NUMBER ONE, pre-librarian connor, references to bandstand bc WHY NOT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 11:48:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17344718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wouldratherbeaunicorn/pseuds/wouldratherbeaunicorn
Summary: When Evan gets caught in the middle of something he's always tried to avoid (high school drama), he tries to ignore the rumors in favor of the truth. But the truth is something he's not always privy to.(or: evan really needs to stop eating chocolate cake)





	Eyes Like the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'Fine One Day' by Tom Rosenthal

Evan did not enjoy commotion. And yet he always found himself in the middle of it. On this episode, it seemed to be his unrequited love, Zoe Murphy, and her boyfriend, Elias Rodriguez, the star athlete of the soccer team, and the school orchestra, with the curly brown hair and the _cute butt_ , apparently. (Jared would never admit that Eli had a cute butt. But Evan, the recipient of all of Drunk Jared’s texts, knew. He _knew_.) 

“You’ve made it increasingly clear you don’t want anything to do with me, so leave. Get out of here.” 

Evan glanced at both of them, but neither paid him any attention. Even though he was standing uncomfortably close due to the lack of space in the bustling cafeteria line. _Damn chocolate cake day_. Someone bumped into him, and he bumped into Eli, barely keeping hold of his slice of cake. The line moved up a person. 

“I mean, seriously, get rid of it.” he blurted, eyes taking off his glasses and wiping them religiously with the hem of his shirt, a nervous tick that reminded Evan of Jared. “Zoe, I just want you to realize what a mistake you’re making! This isn’t- you’re going to ruin your life! Over what? A baby?” 

A hush swept through the crowd, and everyone did a double take, watching the couple carefully. Eli immediately stared at his feet, but his girlfriend didn’t notice. Or if she did, she didn’t care. Zoe glared at him, and crossed her arms. “Can’t do any more damage than you can, right?” She smirked devilishly, and Evan had sharp flashbacks to Connor giving their English teacher that same exact smile, right before demolishing the poor man over whatever article they were reading at the time. 

“I hope you have a great time in college, fuckface. Now never. Talk to me. Again.” She clenched her jaw and faced forward in line, holding only a water bottle. Everyone looked at each other, and then Zoe, and then Eli, and then _Evan_ , who was dutifully minding his business and not paying attention to anyone else around him. Or, that’s what he told himself so he didn’t have a panic attack and cause another commotion. 

Eli just glanced at Evan, scoffing as if to say _Do you see this?_ Evan just shrugged, his mouth creating a thin line as he stared at Zoe’s hair, pulled back into a ponytail. The baby pink had just about washed out. Evan almost laughed at the irony. 

Eli tried again. “Zo’, I just-” 

“Go, before I throw up on you. Wouldn’t want to get anywhere near anything to do with this, right? It’s not like you made it, or anything.” Only someone looking for it would’ve noticed the slight gesture to her abdomen. Unfortunately for Zoe Murphy, _everyone_ was looking for it. A few gasps went around the lunch line, and she glanced around it, settling on Evan, which. What the fuck? Why now? 

She stared at him for a few seconds before her face started getting red and her eyes and nose scrunched up, and, well, she looked kind of adorable. Until she started fucking sobbing and everyone turned to glare at Evan, as if he’d said something. He cowered as she dropped the water on his tray, cut the line, and ran out of the cafeteria. A teacher followed her, and Evan just stared at the gap where she was, before turning to Eli. 

Evan must've looked upset or judgemental or something, or maybe it was the fact that everyone was glaring at the poor kid, because Eli immediately backed up, hands in front of him. He focused on Evan. 

“I-I tried. I did, I… I'm sorry, but I can't be caught up with her anymore. I tried-” 

“Then don't fucking talk to her anymore. Leave her alone,” came a growl from behind the blonde. Connor Murphy stood there, ever the ~~psycho~~ overprotective brother, hands clenched at his side. Eli just went in the opposite direction and sat with his team. 

Zoe Murphy seemed to vanish after that. Eli came to school, and so did Connor, but Zoe stayed away. By day two, _everyone_ knew about Zoe Murphy’s blow-up at lunch. And everyone had a different story. Evan really only paid attention to the ones containing him. 

  1. Eli broke up with Zoe and she ran out of the cafeteria crying and then Connor punched Eli and Evan broke up the fight.
  2. Zoe broke up with Eli and then Evan told her she was a bitch and she ran out crying.
  3. Zoe cheated on Eli with Evan and got pregnant, and so Eli broke up with her, but then Evan broke up with her, too, and she ran out of the cafeteria crying.
  4. Zoe cheated on Eli with _Connor_ and Evan still called her a bitch, which led to her running out of the cafeteria crying.
  5. Zoe was pregnant with Eli’s baby and he wanted her to have an abortion but she wouldn’t get one, and so Connor told Eli to fuck off and Evan was... somehow involved.
  6. Zoe was dying and Eli and Evan were trying to support her but she made it difficult, and he said something that made her run out and cry.



The only constants were Zoe running out of the cafeteria crying, due to Sabrina Patel and her fucking phone. Evan heard all of these stories from Jared, who could always be counted on as a reliable source. Of course, Jared was only trying to get the truth. 

“Is the girl Murphy pregnant, or not?” Jared whispered, wholeheartedly ignoring the purpose of their study hall. The library was full of quiet chatter and librarian aides going around shushing students. They hadn’t quite gotten to Evan and Jared yet. 

Evan swung his arm around, attempting to shake the boy off. Jared feigned pain as his friend struck his chest lightly, but still held on tight. “I don’t _know_ , Jared! I told you what I saw.” 

“And you swear you aren’t involved?” 

“I swear. I didn’t say anything to her, she just ran out crying.” 

Jared hummed, but let go of his family friend’s arm, eyes glancing back at his science textbook for a few seconds, ignoring Evan’s sigh of relief. They worked in silence for a few seconds, until Evan looked up from his AP Gov flashcards. “Legislative is significant be-” 

“Okay, so I heard she actually is pregnant,” Jared barreled through, hands gripping the edge of the table as he leaned in to whisper. “And her parents are pissed! Like, her mom wants to pull her out of school, but her dad is making her stay because it’s, like, her fault or whatever. And she isn’t having an abortion, but she’s giving it up for adoption.” He clicked his tongue, and shook his head, before stopping abruptly and simpering at someone on the other side of the library. 

Evan took one look and shook his head. “No. Don’t say a word, Jared.” 

“I just want to ask Connor what he thinks of his new niece or nephew. Rumor has it that he’s why Zoe’s giving the baby up for adoption…” 

Evan scowled, but turned back to the broody boy, standing in the fictional section. He looked over and saw a freshman girl attempting to grab a book off the top shelf, and grabbed it for her, giving a meek half-smile when she thanked him, before tripping over her feet in an effort to get away. Connor frowned. 

“I mean, come on. Would you want Connor Murphy down the hall from your baby?” 

Evan ignored the question, leaning over his flash cards and shuffling his missed deck, glancing up as Jared grabbed his lunch bag. “How do you know all of this?” 

Jared pulled a bruised pear out of his bag, grimaced, set it aside, and rummaged around a bit more, laughing a bit as he uncovered a half-eaten bag of Funyuns. “She has really shitty friends.” 

“Mr. Kleinman! Language.” 

Evan jumped at the sound of the aide, hands clenching as she stayed by their side, lecturing Jared on the importance of keeping the volume of the library at a minimum and using clean language, especially as an underclassmen. Jared played his role as the solemn and apologetic teen extremely well, waiting until the older woman was halfway across the room to roll his eyes at Evan. “Anyway. Do you know when Zoe comes back to school?” 

“How would I know that, Jared?” 

The teen licked his fingers, before snapping. “Well, you have classes with her-” 

“One class, next hour.” 

“And you have that huge project that you get your partners for today. She knows about it. She won’t miss it.” Jared shook his head, taking a bite of the pear in front of his chagrined friend. “I’m sure of it.” 

Evan rolled his eyes. “Do I want to ask how?” 

“Because she’s right there.” 

Evan’s head whipped around, and he zeroed in on Zoe and Connor talking quietly, Connor still focused on the bookshelf and Zoe staring intently at her brother. Evan didn’t know how long he’d been staring when Zoe finally looked at him, eyes turning from serious to annoyed as her lips pursed and she turned around, pulling Connor with her. 

Evan sighed, and faced his flashcards once more, ignoring Jared’s intense stare. It didn’t let up, but got worse as Jared leaned forward, so close that he could bite Evan if he wanted to (the last time he’d been that close, Evan had refused to watch Twilight with Jared ever again). He didn’t, tilting his head up so that no one else could hear him, before shouting in Evan’s ear, “Tell me what you saw!” 

“Ow- Jared!” 

**Author's Note:**

> tl;dr: Evan Hansen comes bumbling into Zoe's life, unprepared for what he is about to encounter. But he'll be damned if he leaves her alone.
> 
> ooh a long fic that i'm actually gonna try on!! whaaaat!!! Comment and leave kudos if you'd like! Also catch me on tumblr @the-second-to-last-jedi I'm pretty cool sometimes.
> 
> xoxo, gossip girl


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